Top 5 To-Bes During The Haj Holiday

What will you become during this Haj holiday? Last year, The Pink Tarha gave you ideas on how to spend your "staycation" in Riyadh. This time, we give you ideas on how to spend your vacation on the great outdoors. Ehrmn in Riyadh, "great outdoors" basically mean outside your housing or flat. So find your personality in our recommendations because Riyadh (and Saudi Arabia) has a lot to offer if you only venture out. ;)

1. CULTURE VULTURE

You should have been here by now. ;)

So you're into arts, culture and heritage? The National Museum of Saudi Arabia is open this holiday so it's the perfect time to visit it and see its eight halls of interesting history and artifacts. You can also visit the museum inside the Musmak Castle near Dirah Souk. Recently, Riyadh has also seen the rise of art galleries and most of them are in the area of Oruba Road. So why not hop from one to another when you have the chance? Try Alaan Artspace which features a contemporary multi-functional art gallery, library, restaurant, and coffee shop. Lam Gallery is located outside the Al Mashreq Boutique Hotel in Oruba too. Visit it and have a sweet ending in Maya La Chocolaterie.

2. LAID-BACK LIKER

The famous fountain of King Abdullah Park via AlRiyadh.com

Like the culture vulture, you're just not into the rushing yourself into thrills. You like strolling and walking and biding your time to keep calm and relax. Well, it's a good thing that the King Abdullah Park in Malaz is now open for you and your families. It has a fountain that dances and lights up during the night to entertain you and the young ones. It also has paths that you can walk in and grassy areas where you can have a quick picnic. If you're weary of the crowd in the newly-opened park, then head to the classic Salam Park, one of the biggest parks in Riyadh. It has a pond where you can ride small boats. The Wadi Hanifa and Wadi Laban, Riyadh's longest rivers, are also home to picnic pockets where you can spend the cool mornings or nights. The areas around Prince Sultan University and King Fahd Medical City are also quick fixes to your cabin fever. Walk around the area early morning or evening when the weather is cooler.

3. ADVENTURE SEEKER

The once in a blue moon blue waters of Al Heet Cave

You're not like me. You're more of the thrill seeking Riyadhizen who ventures out into the desert in need of life's next adventure. The outskirts of Riyadh holds these places where expats go to when they want to climb sand dunes or rock mountains. I'm quite sure you've been to the Red Sand and Hidden Valley. You can rent an ATV (or are these banned already?) to explore the dunes beyond. Have you been to the Al Heet Cave? Or to the Eyes of Al-Seeh in Al-Kharj? Like I said, we expats are the mothers of tourist spots: where there is none, we find something.

4. HEIGHT JUNKIE

 Riyadh from above.

Here's a challenge for you: see Riyadh on all view decks available in the city. And that means three to our knowledge: the Skybridge in Kingdom Tower, the Globe Experience in Al-Faisaliah Tower, and the Water Tower near Batha. These are the highest places in Riyadh where you can see the city in its grandeur (wow grandeur?! hahaha!). Well sometimes, it's good to see the city from above and not from the ground, which we always see on a daily basis. And for those who have acrophobia (fear of heights), you think you can conquer it through these places? If you know any other viewing decks we haven't visited, please feel free to suggest in the comment section.

5. FUN FOODIE

Burger Box, opening soon.

And yet another challenge: try five new restaurants or food stores in Riyadh that you haven't tried. There are a lot of restaurants that have mushroomed in the city and we're all dying to try them just because. I was telling The Pink Tarha that we should venture out to the streets we haven't been paying attention too because we're more focused on the usual Tahlia Street, Takhasussi Street, and Olaya Road during the past few years. We have our sights on King Abdulaziz Road to try Just Felafel and Burger Box, Al Muruj for Hamburgini (the best burger according to Destination Riyadh's food issue), King Fahd Road for Antica Roma, and Khurais Road for Forchetta. Do you have a list of restos you want to try? The haj holiday opens up an opportunity for you to try them.

I have other "personas" in mind like be a Mall Rat where you go to malls you haven't visited, mostly the ones away the city center like Al Qasr Mall and Salam Mall. But since there are no sales yet, we don't recommend being a mall rat nowadays. You can also be the Out of Towner, the one who goes to nearby cities and towns like Al-Khobar, Dammam, Taif, Jeddah, etc. But I'm pretty sure most of you are already there. You can also mix and match your activities. It's your choice and you have a week to do what you want. Whatever you decide on, take care, have fun, and ENJOY!

EID MUBARAK! ~ Sundrenched

A Walk Down A Museum's Memory Lane

They say that museums are places where time is transformed into space... and I AGREE! 

The National Museum of Saudi Arabia

I revisited the National Museum of Saudi Arabia weeks ago... four years after Eyecandy and I first went there. I was curious to see the changes in the museum and I was quite surprised... because nothing has changed! It's still the same. No new features, no new effects, no new nothing. Unless I missed them but when it's just me and two of my friends in the museum (it's literally ours for the night), it's hard to miss anything that's out of the ordinary.

The lobby, bow!

The two-story National Museum of Saudi Arabia is a huuuge (like 17,000 sqm) part of the King Abdulaziz Historical Centre. One of the reasons I like it, despite of its somewhat not awe-inducing components, is because it's wide and so spacious! It has 8 major halls which are designed slightly different from one another. (Lonely Panet published in their site that the museum has eight floors! Whew! It has 8 halls! Not floors, haha!) If you can still remember, I didn't explain the halls on our first two entries. Allow me to do so now. ;)

The King Abdulaziz Historical Centre

Here are the highlights of my walk down memory lane...

The first thing to greet you is still this piece of a meteorite found in the Empty Quarter.

WELCOME!

This is our boss' favorite piece because he's been to the area of the Empty Quarter where this meteor landed (the Wabar Meteorite Impact Site) and he said that it turned sand into glass (black melted slag)! Wow! We should totally visit that area one day. This display is also the welcoming committee of the Man and Universe hall.

The Man and Universe Hall is all about the geological ages where the prehistoric man and the way of life during the very early days are featured. A favorite display is this model of a Mastodon, an extinct specie that is related to today's elephants.

The Mastodon

The side back view?!

They roamed the Arabian Peninsula 12-17 million years ago. Okay, seriously, this is probably the most photographed display in the museum. Some visitors even climb the rock and pose underneath it. Walang pinapalampas talaga basta camwhoring! ;)

My favorite would have to be this desert rose. A crystal cluster of gypsum or baryte which forms a rosette tinged with a pale pink color that's so lovely to look at.

Amazing art of nature

I spent minutes staring at this sand rose because four years after, it's unchanged.

Yep, they're waving at yah!

This rock, found in Najran with handprints carved into it, bids you farewell from the Man and Universe Hall and welcomes you into the next hall...

Please follow the yellow dots on the floor. This way please!

The Arab Kingdoms Hall is where the history of the Arab world spanning from the fourth millenium BC to the fourth century AD comes into light. It highlights the ancient civilizations in the Arabian peninsula.

A dwelling place

The Tayma Wall built with stones

How they wrote those days.

These slabs of rocks, which date back to the fourth millennium BC, were found at the Khobba site in the Tabuk region. The ancient scripts are also featured in this hall and being a fan of anything "handwriting", I took time in examining the slabs of rock where these scripts were displayed. Thank goodness the ink, pen, and paper were discovered and invented. Imagine reading a book during those times! Whew!

The Pre-Islamic (Jahiliyya) Era Hall shows the trade route before the advent of Islam.

Go on, have your photo here!

Another favorite photo op area is this archway. I hope they just painted a scenery, or something (any thing!), on the wall behind it. Unless there's a significant reason why it's just painted solid dark blue.

Located in the second floor (the first hall to greet you upstairs), the Prophet's Mission Hall is the most colorful. It depicts the lineage, family, marriage, and major events in the life of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH). There's the showcase of the artistically painted holy Quran and the road map of the prophet's journey to Madinah.

Read the walls

The story telling of the prophet's journey

Part of the prophet's hall

The Islam and Arabian Peninsula Hall has six sections that highlights the era of Islam. It begins with the Umayyad Caliphate to the Abbasid period to the Ottoman.

Ruins

Scale this?

You can't leave the museum without having a picture on this wall. Just because.

What lies behind the facade?

The old Riyadh appears in the Saudi First and Second State Hall. As you know, the old town of Riyadh still stands today... known as Diriyyah. The exhibit hall has a street from a the mud house neighborhood and a miniature version underneath a glass floor that people can walk in.

A street in Diriyyah

There's also a diorama. Riyadh has truly progressed.

You won't see the Kingdom Tower there just yet.

The most interesting hall would have to the Unification of the Kingdom Hall which has a mini theater. Since my friends and I were the only ones in the museum that night (or okay, in that section because who knows? Maybe other followed after we went in...), we thought they wouldn't be playing the movie but the custodian said we can watch it and so we did. It was a nice experience seeing an educational and entertaining "movie" in Riyadh, complete with canons hissing smoke on the side. Hehe.

The theater and the movie

You'll also see the displays of old houses in this section.

Remember this Vigan-esque houses?

Up to the discovery of oil...

The truck's still here!

The last hall, the Hajj and the Two Holy Mosques Hall, is the most beautiful. As you go down the stairs, huge portraits hanging in the ceiling welcomes visitors. Below it is a map that shows the aerial view of Makkah. Everything related to the holy pilgrimage of Muslims are on display like a sample of the Kaaba curtain and the Kaaba door.

The last hall

You shouldn't miss the miniature version of the Kaaba and the Grand Mosque (Masjid-al-Haram). The details are gorgeous!

Part of the grand mosque in Makkah

And also the miniature version of the Al Masjid-an-Nabawi, often called the Prophet's Mosque, in Madinah. I like the overall design of this mosque better. For non-Muslims like us, this is probably the closest thing we'd ever come to seeing the two holiest sites in Islam up close. It's an awesome feeling... to be able to connect to what we usually view as something so different from us. It usually turns out the other way isn't it? We're so alike in so many ways. :)

More displays

The National Museum of Saudi Arabia is simple as compared to the other museums in other countries but it speaks loudly about Saudi Arabia and its history as the strongest, biggest Kingdom in the Arab peninsula. Museums are generally boring but not for me, a history nut. So if you're like me and just want to do something new, discover something new... then visit the National Museum of Saudi Arabia. A stone's throw away is a modern exhibition hall featuring a car collection and a Memorial Hall. A few steps further is the Al Watan Park and the Riyadh Water Tower.

The hallway leading to the entrance

It's best to visit at night time. Ticket price is SR 10 per adult; children and students are free. Check the schedule here. To those who can't visit for various reasons (like maybe you live far far away from Riyadh), then check out this virtual tour.

A night in the museum

We received requests for The Pink Tarha to create a tour of the museum (and other interesting sites) for ladies in Riyadh. It's quite funny because we're not even locals to do a kind of trip that shows Saudi Arabia's history and discusses their culture but we're extremely flattered that people trust us to be able to share this information to them. What do you think? Should we or shouldn't we? ;)

Well, who knows? Maybe a plan of a "Riyadh tour" is in the works. You know us Pink Tarha ladies... we're full of surprises! ;) ~ Sundrenched


National Museum of Saudi Arabia
King Abdulaziz Historical Centre
Murabba, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
T: +966-11-4029500

Yellow marks the spot.